bioarchaeology (Other Keyword)
101-125 (311 Records)
The ability to differentiate commingled skeletal remains is critical in the analysis of mass burials, archaeological sites and mass fatality events in forensic cases. The potential application of EDXRF (Energy Dispersive X-ray Fluorescence) to aid in differentiating commingled remains is being explored at the MAX Lab (McMaster Archaeological XRF Lab), expanding the lab’s research focus from solely obsidian sourcing to include bio-archaeological applications. There are numerous factors affecting...
Discerning Patterns of Intentional and Unintentional Movement of Human Bones in Maya Caves (2016)
The caves of Central Belize were used extensively by the Maya, primarily during the Late Preclassic and Classic periods (approx. 300 BC to AD 900). Archaeological investigations of human bone deposits in these caves typically seek to identify specific mortuary rituals, often based on analogy with ethnohistoric, epigraphic, and artistic sources, and to interpret these behaviors within broader sociopolitical and environmental contexts. However, because of the long history of cave use in the area...
Documenting the Forced Migration of Enslaved Peoples at the Grassmere Plantation, Nashville, Tennessee Using Strontium and Lead Isotope Analyses (2017)
The Grassmere Plantation in Nashville, Tennessee was established in 1810, and documents show that unnamed, enslaved peoples labored there throughout the decades until emancipation. Our research investigates whether enslaved laborers were born and raised on the plantation or were forcibly moved there later in their lives. To address that question, we analyzed strontium and lead isotope ratios from tooth enamel. Twenty burials were recovered from Grassmere, and we obtained strontium and lead...
The Earliest Bioarchaeological Evidence of the African Diaspora in Renaissance Romania (2017)
Little documentary or archaeological information currently exists regarding the presence of people of African descent in Eastern Europe during the historical period. Known to have arrived in Europe with the Romans, free and enslaved Africans were common members of European society by the advent of the Renaissance, especially in the Moorish territories and the Ottoman Empire. At the cemetery site of Suceava, located in northeastern Romania, archaeologists in the 1950s excavated two sets of...
The Earliest Dated Skeletal Remains from the Atlantic Coast of Nicaragua (2015)
A recent discovery of a female skeleton from Monkey Point – a shell matrix site on the Atlantic coast of Nicaragua – represents the earliest confirmed evidence of the occupation of the region. In 2014, the skeleton eroded from the profile (left unprotected after the excavations in the 1970s) prompting rescue excavations. The skeleton was not disturbed, and the excavations could follow proper archaeological procedures, allowing us to reconstruct the burial position and to attempt chronometric 14C...
Early 19th Century Anatomical Instruction at Harvard Medical School: A Bioarchaeological Study of Human Remains from Holden Chapel, Harvard University (2016)
This paper reports recent study of anatomized human remains and artifacts from a trash feature beneath Holden Chapel in Cambridge, Massachusetts, once home to Harvard University’s medical school. The building housed medical instruction from 1801 until 1825 and was used for periodic anatomical lectures until the 1860s. During a 1999 renovation, archaeologists recovered more than 2700 objects, including scientific equipment, domestic artifacts, and faunal remains, from a defunct dry well in...
Early Medieval Deviant Burials in the Czech Republic (2013)
This paper will examine how 22 burials, labeled "deviant" due to their unusual burial positions, fit into the social context of early medieval Bohemia. Libice nad Cidlinou is a large fortified settlement site in what is now the Czech Republic. Multiple excavations have uncovered a cemetery dating from the late 9th through early 10th centuries and consisting of 212 graves. Of these, 22 deviate from the normal extended burial position. The unusual burials have been analyzed using a...
"Eating locally" in Tlaxcallan: The Impacts of Political Economy on Postclassic Diets (2017)
Late Postclassic Central Mexico is defined by significant political change, with the Aztec Triple Alliance quickly dominating the political landscape. As the triple alliance materialized in the 15th century, Tlaxcallan simultaneously emerged as a key market center, connecting trade in the central highlands to the Gulf Coast. As the alliance expanded, Tlaxcallan remained a uniquely unconquered space, yet the conditions of its autonomy are unclear. Siege of trade routes and the manipulation of...
Effects of Clay Shrinkage on Sex Estimation of Dermatoglyphic Impressions on Ceramics (2016)
Dermatoglyphic impressions - the patterns of ridges and furrows, whorls, loops, and arches present on human hands and feet - are recognized by forensic scientists as having sexually dimorphic characteristics. Sex and age can be estimated from these impressions achieving rates of accuracy similar to other metric methods utilized in physical anthropology and bioarchaeology (Marasco et al. 2014, Mundorff et al. 2014). Despite this potential, analysis of dermatoglpyphic impressions left on plastic...
The Elite Meroitic Necropolis of Sai Island, Part II: Bioarchaeological Interpretations (2017)
Five Meroitic necropoli have been identified on Sai Island, located in northern Sudan between the 2nd and 3rd Nile cataracts. Recent archaeological excavations conducted by the French Unit of the National Corporation for Antiquities and Museums have focused on a small elite Meroitic necropolis (300BC-350AD). Although the archaeology of this necropolis is complicated by interments from other periods and looting, here we present the initial analyses of the Meroitic elite skeletal remains in...
Engendering the Bioarchaeology of the Viking Age (2017)
The emergence of sexual orientation stigma or "queerphobia" within Christianity has a deep history that can be traced through historical and archaeological sources. Previous researchers in Mesopotamia argued that "queerphobia" did not exist in ancient times, yet biases against non-normative sexual orientations are continuously debated among contemporary theologians. This paper explores how sexual orientation stigma came to exist in modernity, arguing that the emergence of this phobia parallels...
Entheseal changes as a reflection of activity patterns at 1st century BC./A.D. Petra (2016)
The residents of the Nabataean capital city of Petra (Jordan) remain an enigmatic element of Near Eastern history. Most research has focused on the site’s architecture rather than the inhabitants living amongst the city’s spectacular structures. Excavations of 1st century B.C./A.D. tombs from Petra’s North Ridge in 2012 and 2014 recovered a sizeable sample (N=113) of Petra’s non-elite inhabitants. This project explores entheses to understand physical activity levels and patterns within this...
Environmental fluctuation in Neolithic coastal central Thailand: a human story (2016)
As a continuously occupied Neolithic (~2,000-1,500 B.C.) site in coastal central Thailand, Khok Phanom Di yielded abundant artifacts and biological remains providing detailed insights to its environmental patterns and human biology. Core studies and faunal diversity analyses suggested the existence of an episode of receding coastal margin between 1,750 and 1,650 B.C., exposing marsh and freshwater areas that were previously inaccessible. The transition from a marine/estuarine site to a...
Ethnic Disparity and Stress in Prehispanic Peru: A contextualized analysis of Cranial Pathology and Facial Asymmetry (2015)
This study evaluates the effects of stress on a prehistoric population from the south-central highlands of Andahuaylas, Peru during the Late Intermediate Period (LIP: AD 1000 - AD 1400). This era was characterized by skyrocketing violence, resource competition, and increasing social inequality. We test the impact of these phenomena by examining cranial lesions and fluctuating facial asymmetry--both indicators of non-specific stress-- among different ethnic groups, identified by the absence,...
Evaluating the Utility of Using Stable Oxygen Isotope Analysis to Study Ancient Migration and Climate Reconstruction in the Ayacucho Basin of Peru (2016)
This study examines whether oxygen isotope analysis can be used to study ancient human migration in the central, highland Andes of Peru (Ayacucho Basin). Although strontium isotope analysis is a reliable way of exploring questions of migration, oxygen isotope analysis, which is significantly less expensive, may offer preliminary insights regarding the possible presence of migrants at a site. This approach has not yet been used in the Ayacucho Basin where the Wari empire was centered, so we...
The Evolution of Mortuary Artifact Assemblages from Historic Cemeteries in the Southeastern and Midwestern United States (2023)
This is an abstract from the session entitled "Paper / Report Submission (General Sessions)", at the 2023 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. Mortuary artifact assemblages, including materials used to mark grave locations, hardware used in the construction of coffins and caskets, and items used to clothe and decorate the dead, range temporally, geographically, and culturally based on a variety of factors, including manufacturing advancements, access to goods, and...
Examination of Mortuary Ritual Associated with Construction Events in peripheral sites of the Motul de San Jose polity, Peten, Guatemala (2015)
This poster presents preliminary mortuary and human osteological data from the Proyecto Arqueologico Periferia de Motul de San Jose 2013 and 2014 field seasons, examining several aspects of mortuary ritual associated with periods of construction and site expansion at the sites of Kante’t’u’ul and Chachaklu’um, located approximately 2 and 5km from the core of the Motul de San Jose polity, respectively. Occupation at Kante’t’u’ul ranged from the Late Preclassic to the Early Post-Classic, while...
An Exercise in Raw Power: A Bioarchaeological Perspective on American Violence & Westward Expansion (2016)
Bioarchaeologists have rarely marshalled data from historic American burial assemblages to explore the dynamics of violence in the borderlands West. This paper considers the social dynamics of American violence under Manifest Destiny through an exploration of ballistic trauma patterns documented in extant historical bioarchaeology literature. This study examines the lives of 42 individuals whose remains exhibit fatal gunshot wounds from across the mid-17th and early 20th century America. Trauma...
Explorations in LEXT Image and Profile Capture for Dental Enamel Surface Morphology (2016)
The field of bioarchaeology is leading to significant advances in our understanding of the lives of past populations. A particular area of interest in this field lies in the consideration of the early life determinants of later life conditions. The consideration of non-specific skeletal stress markers has been at the forefront of this research. Dental enamel grows incrementally, and because it does not remodel once formed, a permanent record of growth disruption is preserved. Traditionally,...
Exploring Intersectionality through Osteobiography: A Case Study from Early Medieval Ireland (2017)
Over the last decade, social identity has become well established as an area of bioarchaeological research. Although bioarchaeologists now examine a variety of identities in past societies (such as gender, age, and disability), it remains challenging to discuss the ways in which multiple identities intersect in the creation of individual lives. The construction of osteobiographies provides a means of investigating these intersections, in particular the interrelation of age with other aspects of...
Exploring Social Differences as Evidenced by Measures of Physical Activity and Skeletal Health in a Muisca Population (950-1400 AD, Soacha, Colombia) (2016)
The human skeleton is a dynamic tissue that changes over the lifetime in response to particular variables such as an individual’s diet, health, sex, and physical activity. Studying human long bones, such as femurs and humerii, for measures of bone quantity and shape can provide insights into the ways that the skeleton reflects the amounts and types of work performed during life. The Muisca, from northern Colombia, are often characterized as highly stratified societies where social differences...
Exploring the Effects of Endemic Warfare and Violence on Women and Children at Casas Grandes (2015)
Bioarcheologists have consistently explored the role that males play in warfare and raiding but the impact of warfare on women and children has been less of a focus. Other studies have shown that women sometimes play a role in fighting, and that women and children suffer from things such as declining resources, losing males from the household, and forced relocation. Casas Grandes provides a case study for the examination of women and children during what was likely to have been a period of...
Fifty-Seven Years of Bioarchaeological Research in Central and Southern Texas: the Changing Nature of Data Base and the Theoretical Orientation (1987)
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Fire and Death: Cremation as a Ritualised Funerary Practice in the Southern Brazilian Highlands (2017)
Archaeological evidence from southern Jê mound and enclosure complexes in the southern Brazilian highlands points to the development of a complex funerary ritual focused on the practice of cremation from 1000 BP onwards. Drawing upon bioarchaeological, ethnographic and ethnohistorical analysis, this paper discusses the role of cremation as a ritualised practice aimed at transforming the dead, their body and their relations with society. Patterns of similarities and differences in such practice...
Fire and smoke in Postclassic Petén: human remains, deity effigies, and codices (2015)
Fire and smoke were fundamental ritual forces in Mesoamerican religious worldview. Found in varied contexts (funerary processing, animation ceremonies, and desecratory rituals), fire and smoke were applied to multiple media (human bodies, architecture, and ceramics). In the Postclassic (AD 950–1524) Maya lowlands, burning both processed honored ancestors’ remains and violated enemies’ remains. Ceramic incense burners with deity effigies were used to burn resins to communicate with supernaturals....